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G.E.THACKRAY.

CAR. DOOR CONNECTION. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I5. 1918.

1,322,655 3 Patenfied Nov. 25,1919.

GEORGE E. 'lI-IACKRAY, OF WESTMGNT BOROUGH, YENNSYLVANIA.

one-noon oonnno'rron;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

Application filed September 16, 1918, Serial No. 254,341.

To all whom it may concern:

tie it known that i, unonen E. 'lnnonnay, a citlzenof the Unlted States, and a resident of the borough of Westrnont, county of Camwhere the doors are operated in pairs or it may be secured directly to a single door in case such is used. 5

This door connection is adapted for use with any kind of door operating mechanism,

vers and the links, when the doors are in closed position, may be supported by cam surfaces in order to prevent them dropping down or loosening when the doors are closed, and they may be held in locked position by the usual pawl and ratchet or other means.

i As the links for a pair of doors or double doors operate side by side and are staggered, he axes of the links are not in the same plane and under certain conditions the links have a lateral inclination, causing a side pull on the door connection, which, in prlor constructions, has a tendency to bend the shank of the door connection with the result of breaking it at its weakest point or the root of the thread. These door 00111160? tions are generally provided with external screw threads which are fitted, within the ends of internally screw-threadecl links or other portions, so that the connection may be adjusted for length to tightly close the door and to compensate for wear or loosening of parts due to irregularities of construction, wear or distortion by use. The

door links, in operating, also swing in longitudin'al directions, requiring the door con nection to be flexible in the direction of this swinging movement. Heretofore the door connectors have been made stifi in the lateral direction and only adapted to swing in one direction, with the'result that bending stresses have been produced, especially when the door is warped or the hopper bottom is twisted, and a powerful manat the end of'a long lever draws the door up to its tightly closed position. By reason of the angularity of the links the shank of the door connector is bent during the closing operation, which may cause an initial crack therein, and when the car is loaded, lumps of coal, stone or other lading are apt to strike upon the door and cause further fracture of the connector and then as the car jolts over I the road the connection bolt breaks completely, thus causing the lading to drop, frequently with disastrous wrecks nd loss of lading. In order to obviate these difliculties I provide a door connecting bolt and holder which are made on the ball and socket principle so that the connection is adapted to swing considerably in the direction of the swinging movement of the doors and links and is also adapted to swing laterally or at any angle in order to provide angularity of the links to any axis above mentioned.

My door connection, therefore, is absolutely flexible or adapted to swing in all directions and is, consequently, only subject to direct pull in the direction of its axis and all bending stresses which would have a tendency to break it are entirely obviated.

Although I have shown and illustrated the socket in certain cases as having an internal surface of spherical form, I wish it understood that this does not have to be'spherical but may be of any reasonable shape to conform and fit against the spherical head of the bolt in such a way thatthe axis of the bolt can be moved angularly and maintain its contact with the socket. I, however, prefer to make the interior of the socket substantiallyspherical as this thereby provides a greater bearing surface with less wear.

My door connection may be made in various forms, the principle of all being the same, namely, that of a'universal or ball and socket joint. In addition to this should be noted that prior bolts which have been made of T-forrn, have been sheared and then drop-forged from bars of flat steel or iron by cutting out T-shape pieces of rectan gular cross-section and then rounding these by hammering, with the result that one por tion: either theshank or the head of the bolt is provided with a cross grain and not adapted to withstand the severe stresses of use. In. order to obviate this difliculty I take a bar of round steel or iron, of diameter preferably larger than the finished .bolt and upset the T-shape or ball-shaped head thereof by axial pressure in dies conforming to the shape desired, whereby the grain of the bolt-head and shank are continuous and without the structions. This adds greatly .to the strength of the connecting bolt and allows the use of one which will fit the prior standard links, thus obviating the necessity of taking these larger, the cost of; which.

would be very considerable when applied to the thousands of cars of this type now in use. V

Having thus given a general description. of my invention, I will now, in order to make the matter more clear, refer to the annexed sheet of drawings in which like characters refer to likeparts:

Figurel is a vertical longitudinal sectional elevation through a portion of a hopper bottom car illustrating the application of my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional el vation of my bolt and socket for connecting the door operating links to the spreader bars secured to the doors. Fig.3 is a vertical transverse sectional elevatlon of this bolt and socket connection, taken at right angles to the View shown in'Fig. 2.

Fig. 4C is a top plan view of the socket member shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional elevation of a slightly modified form of bolt and socket connection. Figs. 6 and 7 are vertical sectional elevations .ofanother slightly difi'erent form of bolt and socket door connection, these views being shown at right angles to I each other, and Fig. 8' is a top 7 plan vie of the bolt shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

if Figs. .9 and 10 are vertical sectional elevations illustrating still another slightly modified form of bolt and socket door connection, the figures being shown at right angles to each other, and Fig? 11 is a top view of the bolt shown in Figs. 9 and .10.

Fig. 12 is a side elevation of a door spreader barand door connection showing the center line of the bar and the offset positionof the socket. Fig. 18 is a vertical cross sectional elevation of another slightly modified form of my invention. V

Referring now to the characters of reference onthe drawings: 1' indicates a portion of the car body in general showing the hopper sheets, doors and door operating mechanism with my special form of door concross-grain of prior 0011- I nection in placc. 2 indicates the car door operatmg mechanism in general of a somewhat usual type which need not be described 'The doors 6 as illustrated are formed in pairs, securedv togethcr'by spreader bars 7 of usual construct on. 8 lllustrates one form of my improved connecting bolt and 9 one form of my improved socket therefor, this socket being provided with -1ntcrnal curved surface '10 which is substantially spherical in outline and also provided with downwardly extending legs 11 provided 'with holes 12, through which holes rivets or bolts are adapted to be inserted to secure the socket member to the spreader bar 7. The socket member 9 1s provided with a slot 13 in the upper portion thereof through which the threaded end of the shank of the bolt is inserted, while the head. 14 of the bolt, which is provided with a substantially spherical upper surface, is adapted to fit within the internal spherical surface 10 of the. socket. By reason of the sizes and clearance provided in the opening 13, the

bolt is adapted toswing around the center of the sphere in any direction to the extent requiredwithout binding or-bending in any manner. The belt is provided with a threaded end 15, adapted to be screwed to a greater or less extent within the internally screw-threaded socket of the door operating links, forthe purposeof adjusting the length of the connection in order that the door may be tightly closed.

As-illustrated. in Fig. 5, a slightly niodifiedform of bolt 16 is provided with threaded end 17, the head 18 of'which is smaller than the head 14- illustrated in Figs. '2 and 3, thus making a bolt-head which is simpler and easy to manufacture, as the upsetting required is very much less. 7 This bolt head may also be square, conical or of any form desired. In order, however, to provide the necessary size, extent of movement and bearing sinface, I provide a saucer-shape member 19, which fits over the bolt head, the outer surface of which member 19 is made in the form of a portion of the surface of a sphere and adapted to fit within the internal spherical surface of the socket provided with holes adapted to secure the same to the doorspreader bar.

Referring now to Figs. 6, 7 and 8: 23 isanother slightly modified form of connecting bolt provided with threaded end 2 and head 25, 'the upper surface of which is of spherical form, provided with flattened sides 26 which are mounted adjacent to the similar internal surface of a portion of the socket member and thus prevent the bolt from aX- ially rotating therein, in order to prevent it from being accidentally screwed into or out of the link, thereby assuring that the adjusted length of the link and bolt will be maintained. In order to adjust the length of any of these bolts, the links can be disconnected from their crank arms and screwed downwardly to shorten the link connection, or screwed, in the reverse direction to lengthen the same, whereupon the pin connecting the upper part of the links is replaced, thereby securing it to'the lever. Another method of making an adjustment for length is to secure the socket members to the spreader bars by means of bolts, which, when removed, will allow the socket members to be rotated, thereby screwing the connecting bolt into or out of the screwed sockets of the links, thus lengthening or shortening the connection as desired, whereupon the socket member is replaced upon the spreader bars and the bolts inserted and their nuts screwed up.

As illustrated in Fig. 6, the socket member is provided with straight or plain surfaces 27 adapted to contact or coeperate with the flat sides of the bolt heads 26 to prevent same from axially rotating therein. The socket member as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 is indicated as 28, the slot or opening therein as 29, and 30 are the downwardly extend ing leg portions adapted to be secured to the spreader bar.

Referring now to Figs. 9, 10, and 11, another slightly modified form of connecting bolt is indicated as 31, provided with an upwardly extending externally-threaded end 32 adapted to be screwed into the link socket. The head of the bolt is 33 of oval or barrel shape, the upper surface of which is in the form of a curved surface, the bolt, however, being of general T-form with a short head of the shape stated. This bolt head, as illustrated, is adapted to contact with the corresponding surfaces of the socket member which receives it to prevent its rotation and the inner curved surface of the socket 34, is provided with an enlarged opening 35 to allow the shank portion of the bolt to swing therein without contact with the edges of the portion surrounding the opening. This socket is also provided with downwardly extending legs 36 adapted to be secured to the spreader bar. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the socket member is formed unsymmetrically,

the center line of. the socket member being C-C while the centerline of the boltis at one side thereof. This construction is made so that the socket member can be secured to the spreader bar in the position shown, adapted to receive one of the links, while the socket member on the other and companion bar is turned 180 degrees and secured thereto so as to provide for the position of the other link without changing the holes in the spreader bars which can therefore be made all alike without disturbing the proper position of the shank of the bolt which is substantiallyat right angles to the spreader bar so that the pull will be direct and equal. This arrangement, therefore, provides for the thickness of the bars composing the links, causing the ends thereof to be somewhat offset from each other and at the same time providing for a direct pull through the connecting bolt to each similar spreader bar.

Referring now to Fig'l-Z: This is a side elevation showing in general the position of my door connection with reference to the spreader bar, the center line of the spreader bar being C C, the socket member being 11, which is located at one side of the center line. The socket end of the linkis 4, the

threaded end of the connectingbolt' is 15,

the connecting bolt is -8 and the socket member 9 provided with the legs ii for attachment to the spreader bar 7. The spreader bar with the connecting apparatus shown thereon, can be used for one pair of doors and the spreader bar and connectionswhen turned 180 degrees can be used for theother pair of doors, thus allowing the links to be offset on each side of the center line so that the location and movement of one link will not interfere with the other.

Referring now to Fig. 13: 37 shows an other slightly modified form of bolt having a threaded end 38, a head portion 39, the upper part of which is of curved outline adapted to fit with-in the similarly shaped socket member 40, which is provided with the enlarged opening 41 adapted to receive the threaded-end of the bolt and allow the same to swing to the extent desired in any direction, the socket member also being provided with the downwardly extending legs 42 adapted to be secured to the spreader bar.

Although I have described and illustrated my invention in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details thereof, as shown and described, but may use such modifications in, substitutions for, or equivalents thereof, as are embraced within the scope of my invention, or as pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A car door connector comprising a bolt and holder of ball and socket construction,

and holder of ball and socket construction and means for normally preventing the rotation of the bolt. I

4. A connector for car doors comprising a bolt,-the upper surface of the head of which is of substantially spherical construc tion, a socket conforming thereto secured to the car door, means for normally preventlng theaxial rotation of the bolt, and adjustable means connecting said bolt to the door operating links.

5. A car door connector comprising a bolt provided with a head, the bearing surface of which is substantially spherical, a socket adapted to fit the same and secured to the car door, an enlarged opening in said socket through which the body of the bolt passes, allowing the same to move angularly there in in any direction, the shank of the bolt being threaded and adapted to be screwed into the end of the door operating link, and

means for normally preventing the axial rotation of the bolt.

6. A door connector comprising a thread ed bolt having an elongated head, the hearing surface of which is approximately spherical, a socket adapted to receive the same, the sides of the socket being adapted to contact with flattened sides of the bolt head to prevent the same from turning.

' 7. The combination with a swinging car door and door rigging therefor, of a connecting boltprovided with adjustable means for securing. the same to the door links, the bearing surface of the head of ,thebolt being afsurface adapted to receive'said bolt head, a and an enlarged opening through which the bolt shank passes allowing the same to oscillate in any direction while maintaining contact with said surface, and 1 means for preventing the rotation of said bolt when mounted 1n positlon.

8. A car door connector comprising a headed bolt, a saucer-shaped cup fitting over the head of said bolt, the convex surface of which is substantially spherical, a socket adapted to be secured to thedoor and provided with an interiorsurface adapted to be mounted upon said cup, thereby. providing a ball and socket connection between the door operating rigging and the door.

9. A car door connector comprising a T-- shaped bolt, the bearing surface of the headbeing substantially spherical and the sides thereof straight or flattened, thereby allowing the bolt to swing without turning.

Inwitness whereof I signature.

GEORG E. TiiAoKRAr.

hereunto aflix my 'ing' approximately spherical, a sockethavp 

